House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio.) subpoenaed Biden ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer Friday for transcripts and audio recordings of his conversations with President Joe Biden.
Special counsel Robert Hur’s final report on President Biden’s handling of classified materials mentions Zwonitzer’s interviews with Biden during the production of his book, Promise Me Dad, published in 2017 after Biden left office. The ghostwriter possessed transcripts and audio recordings of the interviews and allegedly deleted evidence of them after Hur’s appointment, the report states.
Jordan issued the subpoena after Zwonitzer initially told the committee he would comply with a records request and subsequently changed his mind, according to a subpoena cover letter.
“On March 11, 2024—over two weeks after the return date on the original letter—your attorney informed the Committee you would not produce the documents without a subpoena compelling your cooperation,” the letter reads.
FBI analysts were able to recover the deleted audio files and Zwonitzer eventually turned over the materials in his possession to Hur’s team. The special counsel declined to pursue obstruction charges against the ghostwriter. When he testified earlier this month, Hur confirmed Zwonitzer attempted to delete audio recordings by moving them into the trash bin on his laptop.
President Biden disclosed classified information by reading Zwonitzer passages from his notebook describing meetings in the Situation Room during his vice presidency, Hur found.
“We have also considered whether Mr. Biden willfully disclosed national defense information to Zwonitzer by reading certain passages of his notes, aloud and nearly verbatim, from national security meetings,” the report reads. Hur declined to recommend criminal charges against President Biden, despite finding evidence he “willfully” retained classified information.
Zwonitzer was not authorized to receive classified information. At least once, Biden warned Zwonitzer he was sharing classified information and continued to read his notebook practically verbatim.
Biden denied sharing classified information with Zwonitzer at a press conference he held on February 7th, the day Hur’s report became public. The special counsel’s observations about Biden’s declining mental faculties, particularly the details on Biden forgetting when his son died, drew an angry response from Biden and his defenders.
Interview transcripts released upon Hur’s testimony appeared to corroborate the special-counsel report and showed Biden was the one responsible for bringing up his son’s Beau’s death. During his testimony, Hur defended his description of Biden’s advanced age and repeatedly shot back at Democratic lawmakers attempting to portray him as a partisan, Republican prosecutor.
Attorney General Merrick Garland Thursday shot down critics who suggested he should have intervened to edit Hur’s report and soften the language on Biden’s age. The White House attempted to pressure the special counsel into revising parts of his Biden’s age after he submitted a draft version of the document. Following his testimony, Hur told The New Yorker he did not write the report for public consumption or have partisan motivations during his investigation.